Adjustment-indicating means



May 13, 1930. v A. PETELEI'Q 1,758,086

ADJUSTMENT INDI CAT ING MEANS Filed June 12. 1922 3 W 24 anven toz 351 @lbtmw VZMW M a Patented May 13, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ADOLPI-I PEIELER, F FREEPORT, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 THOMAS HOWE, 01 WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK ADJUSTMENT-INDICATING MEANS Application filed June 12, 1922.

This invention relates to indicating means for use in the adjustment of radio apparatus such as variometers, condensers etc., but it may have other uses.

Radio receiving sets are usually placed in a case or cabinet and upon a suitable panel are mounted, among other things, dials or scales for indicating the positions of the adjusted parts.

It is usual in radio apparatus to either directly connect the adjusting handle with the part to be adjusted and to directly connect the indicating dial with the said handle and inoven'ients of the dial corresponding to move ments of the adjusted parts (which cause con siderable change in the operation of the apparatus) are very small. This renders it difficult to observe niceties of adjustment of the apparatus so that the operation frequently suffers accordingly.

It the main object of the present invention to so amplify the movement of the indicating means with relation to the adjusting movement of the apparatus being adjusted that variations in adjustment may be accurately observed and the apparatus set with greater nicety.

In those indicators employed for denoting the positions of radio variometers for instance, it has previously been the custom to use but a small portion of, substantially one-half of, the circumference of the indicating dial is available for the scale because the adjustable coil is so related to the adjusting handle and dial that the latter are only available for turning through approximately 180.

It is a further object of'the invention, and ancillary to the above mentioned object, to so relate the movement of the dial and the adjusted part that the dial will complete an entire turn so that the entire circumference of the dial is available for the scale which may. accordingly be made of twice the size and therefore the scale divisions may be made coarser and so more readily observed.

Other and ancillary objects of the i'nven tionwill appear hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings which illustratethe-invention Serial No. 567,858.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the improved indicating means with a portion of the panel on which it is mounted, the remainder of the panel being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. t is a rear view of the adjusting apparatus viewed from the back where it fits against the panel, and with the back plate partly broken away.

Referring to the drawings the rotatable spindle or shaft 1, extending through the panel 2, is secured to the adjustable coil of a variometer 3 of a radio. receiving set. As ordinarily constructed the adjusting handle and dial would be mounted on the end of the shaft 1 and consequently when it is desired to use the present invention a standard form of construction may be taken, the ordinary handle and dial removed and the improved one applied by securing it to the face of the board and to the end of the spindle 1 in place of the ordinary handle and dial.

The improved adjusting and indicating means comprises a gear or driver 4: fixed to the shaft 1 in any suitable means and rotata bly mounted in a casing or housing 5. Also rotatably mounted in the housing 5 is a spindle or shaft 6 which at its inner end carries the gear or driver 7 meshing with the gear 4:, while outside the casing 5 there is fixed to the shaft 6 the petticoat 8 about the casing and carrying the dial 9 and operating handle 10. The back of the housing 5 is closed by a cover plate 11 secured to the back of the housing by screws as 12. The housing 5 and its carried parts is secured to the panel by means of bolts or screws 13.

The ratio between the gears 4 and 7 is :2 to 1 so that for av unit of angular movement of the variometer coil, the dial 9 will move through twice that angle. Inasmuch therefore as the usual dial is graduated over only one-half of its circumference, since the dial in the present case moves twice as far for a given movement of the variometer coil, the graduations must bev extended around the entire circumference and the scale is amplified or made larger so that it may be more readily observed and nicer adjustments effected.

In applying the improved device to the usual construction of receiving set, it is simply necessary to remove the usual knob and dial from the end of the shaft 1. The end of the shaft 1 is then entered through the plate 11 and into the gear 4. The gear is then turned until the set screw 14 comes opposite the hole 15 in the housing when a screw driver may be inserted in the hole and the screw set down to fix the gear 4 to the shaft 1, the various screws having been previously applied to secure the back cover plate to the housing and the housing to the panel; the petticoat 8 up to this time having been omitted as other- 'ise the hole 15 would not be accessible. The variometer is then turned to its zero position which is limited by the set screw 14 coming against the shoulder 16 on the housing. The dial and handle are then applied to the shaft 6 in such adjustment that the zero point of the dial comes opposite the hair line 17 on the panel. The handle and dial are then fixed to the shaft 6 by tightening down the set screw 18. As has already been observed the variometer only turns through a semicircle so that the other limit of its turning is established by the shoulder 19 which is 180 removed from the shoulder 16 and adapted to come against the pin 14. In this movement of a half a circumference of the shaft 1, however, as has already been pointed out, the dial 9 will move through an entire revolution.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the improved indicating means can be readily applied to standard forms of radio receiving sets with little difiiculty and that the indications provided by the dial are much magnified or amplified with relation to the movement of the apparatus adjusted so that nicer adjustments may be more readily effected.

It will be observed that the construction described permits an adjustment of the indi- 'tating means to various positions about the shaft 1. above and below and on either side because the whole apparatus can be swung about the shaft 1 so as to permit the greater dimension to be below that shaft as shown in the drawings or the bulk of the indicating means may be thrown to the top or one side of the shaft 1.

While the invent-ion has been illustrated in what is considered its best application it may have other embodiments without departing from its spirit and is not therefore limited to the structure shown in the drawings.

What I claim is:

l. The combination with a. panel, of a rotat-able shaft extending therethrough for adjusting parts of the apparatus, a housing secured to said panel, a spur gear rotatably mounted in a bearing in said housing and secured to said shaft, a'second spur gear of smaller sizethan the aforementioned gear and 1,75s,0se

meshing therewith, a second shaft rotatably mounted in said housing and secured to said second spur gear, a petticoat secured to said second shaft, enclosing said housing and carrying a circular indicating dial, and a handle secured to said petticoat.

2. A unitary adjusting structure for application to a shaft comprising in combination a housing, two rotatable engaging drivers in said housing and each having a bearing in said housing, one of said drivers having a hole whereby the said shaft may be inserted into said driver, means to operatively engage with said shaft on said driver and an opening in said housing to permit access to said engaging means, a shaft secured to the other of said drivers and extending to the outside of said housing and a knob secured to the last mentioned shaft outside said housing.

3. A unitary adjusting structure for application to a shaft, comprising in combination a housing and a cover plate therefor, a plurality of rotatable drivers having bearings in said housing and said cover plate having a hole whereby the said shaft may be inserted into said housing and engage with a driver, a shaft secured to another of said drivers and extending to the outside of said housing and a knob secured to the last mentioned shaft outside said housing.

4. The combination with a. panel of a shaft extending therethrough and a unitary structure for application to said shaft comprising in combination a housing and a cover plate therefor, a plurality of rotatable gears having hearings in said structure, said cover plate enclosing said gears in said housing and having a hole for the entrance of said shaft into said housing, said shaft passing through said hole into engagement with one of said gears, a handle upon the exterior of said housing and means for connecting said handle with one of said gears, said gears and their beer ings being within said cover plate and housing and said handle being at the opposite side of said structure from said panel whereby said unitary structure presents to the panel a substantially plane surface with a hole for the reception of the. shaft coming through the panel. 4

5. The combination with a tuning unit for radio apparatus adapted to be varied from minimum tomaximum through a predetermined arc of less than 360, of an operating shaft projecting from said unit, a dial connected to said shaft, means for causing said dial to rotate through 360 during variation of said unit from minimum to maximum, and means carried by said dial to permit notations relative to said tuning unit to be made over an area of 360.

6. The combination with a tuning unit for radio apparatus adapted to be varied from minimum to maximum through a. predetermined arc of less than 360", of an operating shaft projecting from said unit, a dial operatively connected through a train of gears to said shaft, said gears having a ratio to cause a 360 movement of said dial to vary said unit from minimum to maximum, and means carried by said dial to permit notations relative to said tuning unit to be made over an area of 860.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification this 10th day of June, 1922.

ADOLPH PETELER. 

